Blog 406 – 09.16.2016

I wrote a piece some days ago about blue skies and how many people see cloudy skies with sadness.  Many times our frustration with people and things, life in general comes from a desire to change them which is, I think, symptomatic of a root desire to change something about ourselves. The real change agent is love and the way it works is that when we genuinely love some thing or someone (even and especially ourselves) we accept that thing or person just as they are and lose all desire to change them at all but see it or them perfect and complete. So the real change always takes place in us.

When we choose to dislike or hate something or someone it is actually because we see something in that thing or person that we do not like or love about ourself. Louise Hay, author and founder of Hay House Publishing, wisely says that all of our problems stem from a lack of loving ourselves enough. Oh, but look a little deeper and find a reason to love each and all of your wonderful attributes.

I love clouds because I love rain and snow and that is where they come from. I love rain and snow not just because they are beautiful but because the are the water of life that makes all things grow. Our bodies are mostly water and you ladies who have trouble loving your bodies (men too) should love them first as they are and it will amaze you how much you will come to discover other things about your beautiful body to love. When one loves clouds as I do, and women’s bodies for that matter, one learns to see the beauty in all their wondrous shapes and manifestations.

As our bodies are infinitely more than the shape, size, or complexion of a particular part, we are infinitely more than our bodies. Some believe our bodies are merely vessels we inhabit for a short time much like a garment that we wear for a while then fold and put away when it is no longer needed.

I love clouds because rather than hide things they make it easier to see the beauty of the world around us. Often a cloudless sky is so bright one has to squint or wear dark glasses which both limit what you can see. I also love clouds because they stream the sunlight and that makes me think of a higher realm of majesty. They remind me that as beautiful as all this is that there is more. As the ole game show host Monty Hall so eloquently and prophetically put it, “There are bigger deals ahead.”

I had the wonderful privilege of growing up in the shadow of Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A famous Civil War battle was fought atop Lookout Mountain called “The Battle Above The Clouds.” Many years before I got to fly in an airplane and see clouds from above in all their glory I got to see them from the mountain top. I love mountains too. Well, tell us someone or something that you don’t love, Dave. Let me think about that. Now of days when I catch myself beginning to think that I dislike or hate anyone or anything I remember the words of the First Intention of the Ten Intentions For A Better World:

     ” I refrain from opposing or harming anyone. I allow others to         have their own experiences. I see life in all things and honor         it as if it were my own. I support life.”

So ask me again if I hate or dislike anyone or anything and I have to reply as a Southern gentleman, “Not a blessed one nor a damned thing.” I put that last phrase for emphasis, hey, it worked for Rhett Butler but then he never claimed to be a gentleman. The truth is in my world there is no one and no thing that will every be damned but all are and everything is beautiful in its own way and blessed and loved forever.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White